No Other Name

No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer

By Ed and Loretta Williamson

I finished this book on April 9, 2017. I started this book the night before, having no idea how quickly it would capture my attention, to the point where I couldn't put it down. This is one of the rare opportunities I've had to read a book and know some of the personal backstory ahead of time from the authors' daughter, Danielle. I've had the privilege of getting to know Danielle over the past several weeks, and when she shared with me the journey her family has been through, it captivated my mind and heart in ways that are difficult to describe. So when she mentioned that her parents had written a faith based book about their story of love, pain, triumph, and God's grace and truth, I couldn't wait to read it. There were two quotes early on that really just made me fall in love with this family — a family I don't even know. The first was by Loretta: "And then he leaned over and kissed me. Fireworks exploded! My time of denial was over — I was in love with this guy and he with me." The second was by Ed: "As I reflect on that beginning phase of our relationship, I see that what drew us to one another was the single-minded passion for serving the Lord and following His will, regardless of the cost." Wow! That's the kind of relationship I long for. That's the kind of family that God has put in my heart to seek and wait for, patiently... obediently. I unfortunately never met Loretta, but I got to feel her warmth, grace, and faithfulness in this book, and I'm thankful for the work God did in her life and the lives of her family through the many valleys and bends in the road. I think Danielle summed it up beautifully: "I would never have chosen this path for my family, but the blessings are numerous: a tightly-knit family that supports each other in the Lord; lasting friendships with fellow Christians; a new sense of awe and wonder at God's power and grace; and the opportunity to share with others so they may come to know God through Jesus too. We learned to pray the Scriptures, we learned that God is faithful, and we learned that no other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory, power, and all praise."

"Our life here on earth is not primarily about maximum physical health, but about a maximally deep relationship with God."
― Dr. John N. Oswalt - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Faith is relational, not a substance that is injected into the bloodstream or dropped out of heaven through some spiritual IV. Faith and trust find their anchor in the character and integrity of God, nurtured by the conduit of God's Word in the context of an interpersonal relationship with Him."
― Ed and Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I must be willing to stand for Him even if it meant losing my family."
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I was discovering that, for the child of God, home is being in the center of His will, wherever that might be."
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I was beginning to learn that God uses everything, even crises, if we're willing to trust Him and rely upon Him."
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Many thought that my emotions had gotten the best of me and my leading might be more of a pipe dream than a call from God. Yet, I recognized God's voice as clearly as when I had experienced my initial call to ministry."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"As I reflect on that beginning phase of our relationship, I see that what drew us to one another was the single-minded passion for serving the Lord and following His will, regardless of the cost."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"What might have appeared as small, insignificant decisions at the moment turned out to be acts of obedience that brought two of His children together for forty-two years."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"What molds children into disciples of Christ is the consistency of what they observe being lived out in the home aligning with what they are being taught."
― Ed and Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"As difficult as it was, it was therapeutic for me to be able to do something to make life a little easier for my mother."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Throughout this time our family learned how to really pray together."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Whenever the fear attempted to return, I gave it to the Lord and He continued to guide me in His peace, surrounded by His presence."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Our family pulled together and grew spiritually as a result of this trial, as did our church family. We did, in fact, call it all joy."
― Ed and Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"How great to have a mother who is truly my best friend."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Let's just bring this to the Lord. Let's take authority over this and believe God for a miracle."
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"What we discovered in the weeks following was that faith is not a rush of emotion, but rather the result of a calculated, planned saturation of the Word of God. His promises through the comfort provided by peace from the Holy Spirit, grew our faith. As our knowledge grew, so did our faith."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"We realize that divine healing is not in the heavenlies and suddenly falls down and heals the sick body. Healing begins from within the heart of the believer who is walking in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Physical healing manifests through the body from within the spirit of the individual, not from outside into the person as in a sudden burst from heaven."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Healing with the Word of God is what produces spiritual growth and increased faith in the heart of the individual."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"We serve a God who is faithful to His Word and therefore we have nothing to fear."
― Ben Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"The armies of the Lord were there and I had no need to fear because He is the God who keeps all his promises to His faithful ones."
― Ben Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"It is easy to rely on one's own strength and resources, and forget what is ours as adopted sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. When storms assail us, we feel helpless because we aren't accustomed to relying on the Lord and His promises. Sometimes we even feel abandoned by Him. Yet, it begs the question: Who really does the abandoning?"
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"She praised the Lord for meeting her once again through His powerful, awesome Word; and once again she was able to focus on His truth, not on her circumstances."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"She was not going to neglect being active for the Lord just because her healing wasn't complete. We were pressing on by faith and the Lord was blessing our efforts. We were there as a team, each expecting the Lord to work and use us, trusting Him to take care of the physical body as we did business with the spiritual man."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"It was apparent to me that we were in a battle and we should not run, but rely on the Lord to rescue us."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I had given my life to God when I was twelve years old, never imagining that I would have to put my mother's life into His hands just three years later."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"My parents continued to seek and trust the Lord. Never once did they question the sovereignty of God. They continued to place their hope in God, and brought others to surround them and do battle in prayer. This provided a great example of God's faithfulness even in the midst of unimaginable pain."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"As I released my anger and fears to Him, the Lord replaced them with His love and peace."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I would never have chosen this path for my family, but the blessings are numerous: a tightly-knit family that supports each other in the Lord; lasting friendships with fellow Christians; a new sense of awe and wonder at God's power and grace; and the opportunity to share with others so they may come to know God through Jesus too. We learned to pray the Scriptures, we learned that God is faithful, and we learned that no other name but the name of Jesus is worthy of glory, power, and all praise."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"The Word of God says that we are not to be anxious about the state of our bodies. We have trust in Him so we present our bodies a living sacrifice. The Word of God was the power that released the will of God in my life."
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Loretta was quick to point out that it was not what we did that healed her; it was faith in the character of God and His integrity to make good on His Word."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Press forward with bold confidence and take what is yours."
― Lettie Cowman - Streams in the Desert
"In the midst of our many blessings and also in the face of devastating news and challenges, God remained constant."
― Ed and Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"She was always a woman of faith and had wonderful spirituality, but that day I saw a person of strength emerge, a warrior resolute and ready to go to battle on behalf of her family."
― Ben Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I seem to recall seeing them praying together more often than ever during this time. And that familiar image, along with their unfaltering faith, helped me begin to trust God again."
― Ben Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Jesus is the light when we cannot see and by simply seeking the refuge offered by Him, we deposit a small amount of trust in Him who sees and knows everything."
― Ed and Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Our focus should always be a single-minded, passionate love for Christ with the goal of having the mind of Christ and a heart that is cleansed of every rival to and hostility against God."
― Ed and Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Just as God told Joshua three times to have courage in the face of entering the Promised Land and securing the promises, so I had to choose the promise over the anxiety and pictures of death. I could do this only because I knew where the source of her healing was anchored — not in me, but in Him."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Since I understood that faith was not a substance that we can evaporate in the heat of the spiritual battle, but a trust relationship with an unchanging God, I was not overcome with fear. The battles continued, but I didn't allow fear to find a permanent lodging in my heart. Whether healing occurred or not, God was in control and was leading us. That had become an unshakable reality in our hearts through Holy Scripture."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Everything we had ever preached and taught had to be lived out in our lives."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Our walk with the Lord had always been to hold our lives with open hands, willing for God to add or remove positions of ministry."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Everything we receive from God, including healing, is undeserved and unmerited."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"She never wanted to be wealthy or famous, she just wanted to be a servant of the Lord for as long as He allowed her to be."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"All I know is that God owns my life. He bought it with the price of the cross. He paid the penalty for my sin and my indifference all those years I rejected Him. Oh, maybe not outright, but I rejected Him by giving Him only one day a week. I gave Him Sunday mornings when He wanted all of me all the time. We will have a zillion years in eternity to spend with Him. We're here for only one speck of time and we embrace it like it is forever. It's not! Our choice is to follow Christ and spend eternity with Him or reject Christ and spend eternity without Him. The secret to endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary, and your reward eternal."
― Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I am more concerned about my quality of life than I am about the quantity. I am leaving that in God's hands."
―Loretta Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Christianity is the only religion in the world where God comes to us offering a relationship with Himself. All other religions are efforts to work out a path to God for His acceptance, striving to earn merits and rewards. In Christianity God came to us in Jesus the Christ, dying on the cross for our sins and transforming us for a relationship with Him."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Loretta and I were upfront with each other about our emotions, and discussed the transition both of us would face. She often prayed aloud for the future Mrs. Williamson because she held to a firm conviction that God had prepared a mate who would come alongside me in my ministry."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"She was always Yours first, and now I release her back to You."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"It wasn't that she was superhuman; it was that she was a mere human who had learned that real strength lies in surrender to and reliance on Jesus."
― Nathan Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Christianity is the only religion whose Founder left an empty tomb. Jesus rose from the dead after having died on the cross for all sins and those who accept that will spend eternity with their Lord once this journey ends."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"We never would have volunteered for this battle with cancer, but we would not trade it for another journey in light of what God worked in and through our lives for His glory."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Cancer was never victorious, although it ravaged Loretta's body. Grace was always greater for every footstep of our journey together. I am equally confident that whatever path God leads me down, the challenges are not hindrances but platforms from which to testify to God's love, grace, and truth in power."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"God and man fight battles differently. God owns the battle, God chooses the weapons, and God fights the battle for us."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Don't become impatient and get ahead of God; He runs the battle and is never taken by surprise."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"How is it when it is just you and God? Loretta had a lot of human support, but it was in the inner citadel of her mind and heart that faith and trust grew. She learned that there is no other name, no other tower to run into than the presence (face) of God."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Paul reminds us that the same power that raised Jesus bodily from the dead lives in us to bring physical strength to our bodies."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Guidance and healing are based on the promises of God found in the Bible. These promises reflect God's integrity and character. We must accept, believe, and trust that what He says in the Word, He will do. The person seeking healing and comfort must start with the Bible and the promises of God. Faith and trust are allowed to grow through times of quality prayer, participating in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, communing with the Lord, and saturating the mind with Scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to rely upon God's Word for your faith; ask Him to keep you from becoming distracted by circumstances, pain, or medical diagnoses. Find rest for your soul in the sovereign will of God and ask Him specifically if His plans and purposes for your life have been fulfilled. Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind with specific passages of Scripture that apply immediately to your circumstances and ignite fresh faith and trust within your heart."
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"Declare the works of God in your life and to those around you as a witness to your faith. The battle is the Lord's! There is no other name"
― Ed Williamson - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer
"I felt as though I had shared my heart with my mom, and she had a verse to share with me that directly reached the heart of the issue. Because that is what she had done on so many different occasions throughout my life. Leave it to her to not let something small like death keep her from ministering to me."
― Danielle Ellis - No Other Name: One Couple's Story of Living with Cancer

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